Athletic Club – Barcelona: Catalans Cruise To Supercopa Showdown (0-2)

The typical curtain riser for the calendar year in Spanish football sees four of the top teams fight for a trophy. The favorites for the first semi-final had their special weapon back in the armory, and he helped them to create a clear lead to fulfill half of the task on the way to glory.

Tactical analysis and match report by Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere.

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In four of the last five editions, success in the reformed Supercopa de España has signaled who will finish at the top of the pile in Spain. Would one of these two teams set out their stalls in the new year?

The chaos in Catalonia resonated with the arrival of Hansi Flick to the dugout in the summer. The club cannot escape its erroneous handling of cash flows, but the board backed the German to take risks with a new crop of talent. Barcelona began brushing aside all of their competitors, building up a six point gap at the top of the table in LaLiga by the end of October. However, the team now sit behind both of their rivals from Madrid and now need to restore the vibe of youthful exuberance.

Athletic Club continue to impress under Ernesto Valverde. The battle hardened Basques brought a smile to supporters with their triumph in the final of the Copa del Rey, ending a major trophy drought of 40 years. Though the side fell short of a return to the Champions League, they have set their sights high again, lying just two points off the Catalans in fourth place. Capable of competitive clashes with Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, and Real Madrid, can the players pick up where they left off in 2024?

Two of Valverde’s troops suffered injuries in their last league victory away at Osasuna. Oihan Sancet picked up an ankle sprain and Iñigo Ruiz de Galaretta tweaked his hamstring. Beñat Prados partnered with Mikel Jauregizar in the middle of the park and Unai Gómez gained the spot in the pocket behind Gorka Guruzeta. The Williams brothers are a highlight of the squad but only one of them was in the starting eleven. Nico, whose fitness had been in doubt before the kickoff, watched from the bench.

Barcelona’s business dealings have created a high-profile problem for Flick. Dani Olmo has been at the center of a court ruling on squad irregularity. He is still a part of the Supercopa squad but was not present in the matchday plans, so Gavi and Pedri played in the midfield with Marc Casadó. However, Lamine Yamal, who missed the end of last year with an ankle injury, was back in the team. Flick also fielded Wojciech Szczęsny for the second time in a row after he made his debut in the Copa del Rey.

Barcelona begin brightly

Flick has given freedom to his players to express their skill with the ball and they set out imposing authority. Yamal yearned for responsibility straight from kickoff. Within two minutes, he cushioned a pass on the volley to Koundé, who could not cut back the ball to a teammate in the area. Koundé then curled a cross into the box and Raphinha leaped at the ball, but he lashed a volley over the crossbar.

Athletic began to wake up in response to the threat. They set out in an asymmetrical 4-2-3-1 pressing shape to disrupt the buildup out from the back of Barcelona, whom they hoped would not find it so easy to push their opponents into a deeper arrangement. Iñaki Williams would move forward next to Guruzeta and close down Iñigo Martínez. Iñigo Lekue locked onto Álex Balde and the last line shifted along with him. The three midfielders went man for man in their coverage of the middle of the park.

Barcelona broke this resistance. Pedri is used to trying to break free from markers in these situations. He tended to drop next to Casadó as the more active ball handler of the two advanced midfielders. He knew how to loosen coverage to get a little space for himself to receive the ball and tried to stimulate the advance up the pitch. It was on this side of the action that the opening goal of the game arrived.

10^th minute: buildup from Barcelona. Balde recognizes that Lekue and Iñaki Williams were closing him down, so he drives diagonally between the two players, pulling Prados’ attention towards him. Pedri backs up, leaves the ball to run across his body, and then drives away from Prados. He then punches a pass into the feet of Lewandowski, who holds up play against Aitor Paredes to draw a foul.

Under pressure from Lekue, Balde poked the ball toward his captain. Raphinha rolled the ball with his studs away from Paredes and released Pedri on his left shoulder. As the midfielder broke forward, support arrived from Balde, who drilled a cutback to the edge of the six yard box. Gavi grasped the chance, scoring his first goal for the Catalans since his return from injury. Barcelona broke ahead.

Athletic respond

Athletic had only kept 33% of the ball in the first twenty minutes of the match. In the final fifteen minutes of the first half, that share had increased to 46%, and they also registered their first four efforts of the game. How had they been able to topple the dominance from their opponents?

26^th minute: offensive sequence from Athletic Club. Unai Gómez and Álex Berenguer exchanged positions as the ball went through the back four. Vivian tentatively dribbled forwards and Guruzeta stood still off the front of the defense. Iñaki Williams was willing to run into the gap between Pau Cubarsí and Jules Koundé, but he allowed Berenguer to fill this role. The winger won an uncontested aerial duel and Iñaki anticipated the second ball, backing up into Martínez to retain the possession.

Athletic faced Flick’s usual strategy at his new club: a 4-2-3-1 system with a high offside line and very small spaces between the two deepest chains. Usually, that means trouble, but the German knows that dilemma can throw up issues for both teams. As his defenders edged even further up the field, the opposition forwards had to adapt to stay onside and make use of the extra free space and time. Eventually, Athletic sought out more diagonal shifts and began breaking closer to the box.

Iñaki Williams added to the danger. He did not stick to the right wing, battling for loose balls and triggered runs along the last line to test the strength of the offside trap with his power. He came close to scoring on the stroke of half time, turning a delivery from Yuri Berchiche into Szczęsny’s body.

At the same time, Barcelona were not content to conserve control. Flicks men are more willing to embrace chaos and Raphinha has raised his profile as a player with the speed to break in behind the defense with his movement. Several transitions broke up around the Brazilian, who also missed an excellent opportunity to add to the advantage in the 23rd minute. They had to regroup at the break.

Yamal earns his rest

At the start of the second half, Nico Williams was warming up. Valverde would have wanted to put him on the pitch at a point when he could force fine margins in Athletic’s favor with his dribbling and change of pace in the final third. However, the team had lost momentum with unforced errors on the ball and lapses of concentration. These mistakes accumulated and became costly in the 52nd minute.

Unai Simón slapped the ball forward and into the path of Yamal. The winger could not break free in the first instance as Prados knocked him off balance, and Jauregizar punched a pass to Guruzeta. Martínez clattered into the striker, and again, Barcelona exploited the open field. Pedri pivoted to his right, feeding the ball onto Gavi, who bent the ball to Yamal behind the backline. He hooked the ball under his control on the swivel, steadied himself against the goalkeeper, and hit the back of the net.

😱 ¡𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗢𝗟𝗔𝗔𝗔𝗭𝗢𝗢𝗢𝗢!

Roba Iñigo Martínez se la pasa a Lamine Yamal y.... 💥

🆚 @AthleticClub - @FCBarcelona_es I 0-2 I 54'

📺 @MovistarFutbol #SuperSupercopa pic.twitter.com/IRKJa5Uxxn

— RFEF (@rfef) January 8, 2025

Around the hour mark, Flick hooked Yamal off the pitch to ease him back into action. Fermín López filled in on the left wing and Raphinha switched sides. Nico Williams would enter the pitch, joining his brother, who moved into the position of the central forward, in an attempt to overturn the deficit. Twice, Valverde’s men hit the back of the net but both goals would be disallowed for infringements.

Takeaways

Barcelona are back in the Supercopa final and will face Real Madrid or Mallorca in the clash to take the trophy. Flick was proud of his players’ performance. As a man who has thrived at reinvigorating a squad at an elite European club, one of his main aims is to manage a young group through the trials and tribulations of a season. He also knows how silverware makes all the difference at the end of a campaign and will back his boys to triumph— not least with Yamal fit and firing once more.

Athletic Club could not get over the line in this contest. Slow starts to both halves were costly and Valverde’s men wasted the chances they created over the course of the game. However, there is still plenty of reason to be excited about 2025 as there are other opportunities to produce another year to remember. The team are in the Round of 16 of the Copa del Rey, which will they attempt to retain, and are in the second spot in the league phase for the Europa League, whose final is at their ground.

Match plots will be added as soon as possible.